Chapter 5

Mrs. Weasley rushed ahead of Ron and Hermione and threw open the kitchen door. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she barked at her startled children. All three of them instantly jumped up and backed away from the table. The surprise at their mother's odd demand was nothing compared to the shock of watching Hermione enter the kitchen, followed closely by Ron. All three of them goggled at her as Mrs. Weasley pulled a chair out and helped her sit down.

"I must look worse than I feel," Hermione said quietly to Ron, who was now standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

"Her-Hermione?" Ginny stammered. "How...?"

"UNBELIEVABLE!" George shouted. "Half the bloody Order's out looking for you and..."

"...you escape by yourself," Fred finished.

"How... how did you do it?" Ginny inquired.

"What happened to your face?" Hermione asked George, staring at his purple bruises.

"He did," George replied, pointing at his little brother.

"RON!" Hermione gasped.

"He was trying to keep me from helping you," Ron said defensively.

"Actually, we were trying to HELP you save her," Fred corrected. "As we've already tried to explain."

"Three of us. Three of them. Seemed like pretty good odds at the time," his twin agreed.

"Hermione?" George continued, as he turned to look at her again. "You saw us coming. Why did you grab that portkey?"

Hermione let her gaze drop to the ground. "Yes, I saw you," she admitted, "but you were too far away. I knew they would reach Ron before you did."

"Ron, you have a letter from Harry," Ginny said holding it up for him.

"You opened it?" Ron asked as he reached out and took the letter from her hand.

"We thought it might be important," Ginny replied, the guilt evident in her voice. "I was just about to write back to him when..."

"Give me that," Hermione demanded, tearing the letter out of Ron's hand and grabbing the quill off the table.

Don't you dare leave that house , Harry!!! she scribbled in big, bold letters. Not for any reason. I don't care what he shows you. It's all lies. I'm fine. We all are. You stay there and--

Ron wrenched the quill out of her hand.

"HEY! I wasn't finished," Hermione barked as Ron spun the piece of parchment around to face himself.

Hermione escaped on her own, he wrote. She apparated into my bedroom about 5 minutes ago. She's in a right temper too, as you can probably tell. Better do as she says, mate. If she can take down D.E.s by herself, I shudder to think what she'd do to you if you left.

Finished, Ron folded the parchment up, strolled over to Hedwig, who was now sitting on the windowsill, and attached the letter to her leg.

"RON!" Hermione shouted as she watched Hedwig soar off to make her delivery. "I wasn't finished you know?"

"Yes you were," Ron replied. Fred raised an eyebrow. George would have as well, except it hurt too badly. "He got the point," Ron continued. "There was no reason to go on about it."

"Maybe I wanted to tell him something else."

"Maybe now is not the right time."

"You don't want him to know?"

"I didn't say that," Ron said, dropping to his knees in front of her. "Right now it's more important to make sure you're ok."

"I'm fine," Hermione protested.

"Ok, so let Mum check you out and when she says your fine, you can write Harry as long of a letter as you like, and Pig will take it to him. Just keep in mind, Pig is absolute rubbish and probably can't carry one of those book sized letters you are so fond of writing."

"Fine," Hermione agreed, but she looked none to happy about it.

"Mum," Ron said, turning around to discover his mother with her head stuck in the fireplace.

"Yes dear?" Mrs.Weasley asked, pulling it back out of the green flames and standing up to dust herself off.

The air split with a loud pop. Hermione who was still a little jumpy, shrieked and would have fallen out of her chair if Ron hadn't been kneeling beside her and reached up to prevent it. Ginny jumped back as well, colliding with Fred and George.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Remus Lupin asked as he approached her, his voice full of concern.

"Y-yes," she stammered back, trying to slow her racing heart.

"Moody's in position, Molly," Lupin said, turning to Mrs. Weasley who was still standing by the fireplace. "We're ready anytime you are."

"Ready for what?" George asked.

"Fred, George," Mrs. Weasley said. "Look after your sister. And see if you can sort out Ron's room."

"WHAT?" Fred shot back indignantly.

"I'm not a baby. I can look after myself, you know," Ginny objected.

"Where are the rest of you going?" George asked his mother.

"We're going to take Hermione to St. Mungo's."

"OH NO!" Hermione started to object.

"Hermione, we have to make sure you didn't splinch yourself," Mrs. Weasley said in a mothering tone.

"You apparated away from them?" Fred asked, the awe evident in his voice.

"So simple and yet so brilliant," George added. "I bet those gits never expected that. Who ever heard of a 15-year-old witch who can apparate?"

"Whose wand did you use?" Lupin asked as he looked down at Hermione.

"That stinking rat, Peter Pettigrew's," Hermione hissed, pulling it out of the back pocket of her shorts and offering it up to Lupin. He reached down, took it from her hand, and held it at arms length as if it were tainted.

"Come on, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, trying to get Hermione up out of her chair.

"NO!" she objected, turning away from Mrs. Weasley and looking down at Ron. "You remember what happened to Broderick Bode don't you?" she asked him pointedly.

Ron's face hardened immediately as he rose to his feet and stepped between his mother and Hermione. "Absolutely not!" he stated, crossing his arms and staring down at her defiantly.

"Moody's already there. Nothing will happen to--" Mrs. Weasley began.

"No!"Hermione and Ron said in unison.

"What happened to Broderick Bode?" Ginny asked George.

"Voldemort wanted to shut him up so he sent Bode some devil's snare for Christmas and it strangled him in his sleep," Ron said irritably. Everyone gaped at him, even Hermione.

"Ron, you... you said his name," Hermione finally stammered.

"Yeah, well, I've been cursing him all night. I guess it just slipped out."

"Hermione," Lupin began calmly, "Nothing is going to happen to you. We just want to have them look you over to make sure there isn't anything wrong internally. Apparating is tricky. There are a million things that can go wrong. Especially if you are untrained."

"Oh please," she shot back. "If they can do it," Hermione motioned to Fred and George, "it can't be all that hard."

"HEY!" the twins objected together.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Fred fumed.

"It means I know how to do it. I didn't splinch myself and I'm NOT going to St. Mungo's."

CRACK

"What's taking so long?" Bill demanded as he materialized into the kitchen. "Moody is barking at everyone that gets near that corridor. They're going to toss him out on his ear if the patient he is supposed to be protecting doesn't show up pretty soon."

"She refuses to go," Mrs. Weasley said, letting her hands drop to her sides, clearly exasperated.

"Hermione," Bill said, turning to face her so he could plead his case. "Your parents are waiting for..."

"WHAT!" Hermione shouted as she jumped out of her chair. "You ... you... didn't take them there?"

"Dad and I were with them when we got word you escaped. He thought..."

"GET THEM OUT OF THERE! GET THEM OUT RIGHT NOW!" Hermione demanded.

Bill took a step backward and looked at his mother. Then to his horror, Hermione's resolve crumpled. Her eyes glassed over and the tears started to roll down her cheeks. She fell into her chair, threw her arms up on the table, and buried her face as she let out a huge sob.

Mrs. Weasley nodded to Bill and he vanished from the room.

"It's alright, dear. Don't worry about your parents. We'll keep them safe. You three," Mrs. Weasley said, looking over at Fred, George, and Ginny. "OUT!"

"What?"

"Why?"

"I said out! NOW!" she barked again.

"But...," Ginny protested, shuffling towards the door. "Oh, all right fine," she spat, glaring at her mother as she stormed out of the kitchen followed closely by Fred and George.

Mrs. Weasley and Lupin moved off to a corner to converse quietly and left Ron standing beside Hermione. He immediately pulled a chair up beside her, and sat down in it, placing his arm around her back. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "They'll be ok. Dad and Bill will look out for them until Dumbledore finds them a secret keeper. I'll do it myself if I have to."

"Oh Ron," Hermione moaned, and threw herself on him. He patted her back gently and tried to remember not to hold her too tightly.